He & Jeff Skiles are due to come to AirVenture this year. It will be great to have a chance to thank them both for everything they are doing to wake the government and public up to the detrimental change to the average pilot's working life.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Hudson pilot urges safety funding
The pilot of a plane that ditched into the Hudson River in New York has called on US airlines to invest more in recruiting and training pilots.
Capt Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger told Congress his pay had been cut by 40% in recent years, and the industry might not attract the "best and brightest".
"The single most important piece of safety equipment is an experienced, well-trained pilot," he said.
He was hailed as a hero after January's landing, which all on board survived.
At the hearing, an air traffic controller recalled the captain telling him he would land in the river, and thinking this was a "death sentence".
Controller Patrick Harten said it felt like hours before he heard of the plane's "heroic landing".
Earlier, Capt Sullenberger told the House committee he and other pilots had seen their wages cut, and that this was deterring potential recruits.
He said it was necessary for companies to refocus on the recruitment and training of pilots, and that this should be "at least as important as their bottom lines".
"We've been hit by an economic tsunami: September 11th, bankruptcies, fluctuating fuel prices, mergers, loss of pensions and revolving door management teams," he said.
Capt Sullenberger said his decision to stay in the airline industry had come at "a great financial cost to me and my family", with his pay cut and pension downgraded.
"It is an incredible testament to the collective character, professionalism and dedication of my colleagues in the industry that they are still able to function at such a high level."
Sullenberger: Pay cuts driving out best pilots - Yahoo! News
WASHINGTON – The pilot who safely ditched a jetliner in New York's Hudson River said Tuesday that pay and benefit cuts are driving experienced pilots from careers in the cockpit.
US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger told the House aviation subcommittee that his pay has been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension has been terminated and replaced with a promise "worth pennies on the dollar" from the federally created Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. These cuts followed a wave of airline bankruptcies after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks compounded by the current recession, he said.
"The bankruptcies were used to by some as a fishing expedition to get what they could not get in normal times," Sullenberger said of the airlines. He said the problems began with the deregulation of the industry in the 1970s.
The reduced compensation has placed "pilots and their families in an untenable financial situation," Sullenberger said. "I do not know a single, professional airline pilot who wants his or her children to follow in their footsteps."
The subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee heard from the crew of Flight 1549, the air traffic controller who handled the flight and aviation experts to examine what safety lessons could be learned from the Jan. 15 accident which all 155 people aboard survived.
Sullenberger's copilot Jeffrey B. Skiles said unless federal laws are revised to improve labor-management relations "experienced crews in the cockpit will be a thing of the past." And Sullenberger added that without experienced pilots "we will see negative consequences to the flying public."
Sullenberger himself has started a consulting business to help make ends meet. Skiles added, "For the last six years, I have worked seven days a week between my two jobs just to maintain a middle class standard of living."